Clark was pastor at Sangerfield, a few miles east of Hamilton, and Hull was a physician and a member of Kendrick’s church in Eaton. Though Hascall, Kendrick and Clark must have sought support for the enterprise among the associations whose meetings they attended prior to the date set for gathering at Hamilton, their efforts appear to have been disappointing. The Otsego Association seems to have been the only one to respond, devoting its entire Circular and Corresponding Letter for 1817 to the topic of ministerial education. When the date for the Hamilton meeting arrived, Otsego was the only association, aside from Madison, to be represented. It is possible that many men who may have given the project their blessing informally, declined to travel to Hamilton over muddy September roads. Further explanation for the attendance of only thirteen at the meeting is found in the prevalent hostility to an educated clergy. Finding their number so small, those present convened, not at the “Baptist Meeting-House”
as advertised, but in the north parlor of Jonathan Olmstead’s home about a mile south of the village.
In addition to Olmstead, Hascall, Kendrick, Clarkand Charles W. Hull, there were: Samuel Payne, Elisha Payne, John Bostwick, Thomas Cox, Samuel Osgood, Amos Kingsley, Peter Philanthropos Roots, and Robert Powell. Nine were members of the Hamilton church, two of the Eaton church, and one each of the churches of Sangerfield in Oneida
